Penny Scavo
'''Penny Scavo' is the eldest daughter of Tom and Lynette Scavo. She is a sweet and responsible young girl. Biography 'Season 1' 'Seasons 1-4' and Lynette discuss their daughter's name.]] When Penny was born after several hours of hard labor, Tom wanted to name her Polly or Pamela, anything but Penny. However, Lynette had decided on that name and wasn't about to give it up. Tom goes so far as to claim the only Penny he knows (his aunt) is a slut, but to no avail. Tom then says he'll get to name their next child, and this sets off Lynette's anger, as she then tells him they are done with children. He wanted four, she wanted one, and somehow they settled on four, but they're done. Years later it would turn out they weren't really done (see "Remember, Pt. 2"). The character of Penny never served any major purpose during the first four seasons of the show, which saw her developing from a baby to a toddler to a young girl. changes her daughter's diaper during her job interview.]]However, in the second season premiere, Lynette was forced to take Penny to her job interview at Parcher & Murphy, and left her with a receptionist while she had her meeting with future bosses Ed Ferrara and Nina Fletcher. However, during the interview, as Lynette told Ed what her priors were, she noticed that the receptionist had left young Penny lying on his desk, crying helplessly, while he flirted with a co-worker. Lynette rushed to get Penny back, mouthing off to Stu, and was forced to change her diaper during the remainder of the interview because Ed was in a rush to go see a game. Lynette showed she could multi-task by making her pitch while whiping off her daughter's bottom, and Ed was impressed and hired her on the spot, much to Nina's displeasure. visits Penny in daycare.]]Penny was also put in daycare at Parcher & Murphy, started teething in "Don't Look at Me" (according to babysitter Mrs. McCluskey's claims), and she was taken by her mother, along with her siblings and the puppy, to a hotel for the weekend one time Lynette left her husband, under the assumption that he was cheating on her with a woman from Atlanta. In season 3, she was taken on a camping trip along with her older brothers and half-sister Kayla, which was cut short by Tom throwing his back again. Penny had her first lines (along with the first time actresses Darien and Kerstin Pinkerton were credited in an episode) in "God, That's Good", when the new assistant manager at Scavo Pizzeria, Rick Coletti, cooked for the whole Scavo family, per Lynette's instructions, as a scheme to convince Tom to allow new recipes to be added to the restaurant's menu. She says "More, please" after she's done eating her portion of the Italian food, which doesn't please Tom. In the episode "What Would We Do Without You?", Gabrielle Solis has been preparing for her wedding to Victor Lang, and reveals to him that she's been looking for a flower girl, and her friend Lynette's kept hinting for her to use Penny, but she saw her at a school show and the girl has "zero charisma"; they then decide to use their housekeeper's daughter, who resembles Gaby when she was younger. In the forth season premiere, Penny asks her mom during Katherine Mayfair's party to pick her up, and Lynette starts to, but must stop because she has no strength left due to her chemotherapy. Her maternal grandmother, Stella Wingfield, eventually picks her up, telling Penny (with an ironic tone) that her mommy needs to save her strength for more important things. When a tornado hits Wisteria Lane, the entire Scavo clan reunites in Mrs. McCluskey's basement. There, Lynette is forced to stop her daughter Penny from banging on metal items with her spoon because the sound annoys Karen, but when she learns that Ida's cat won't be put upstairs even though Tom is allergic to cat fur, she gives her daughter the spoon back, and tells her to knock herself out. Unfortunately the house collapses on top of the family, and Ida Greenberg tells the kids to get under the stairs, because they'll be safe there. She ends up dying in the wreckage because there was no room left for her, and so she was killed saving the Scavo family. When the firefighters rescue Tom and the kids, Penny is the first to come out alive from under the wreckage, thus giving hope to her mother and all the witnesses. Afterwards, Lynette tries to get her family to attend church masses more often. 'Season 5' After the time jump, Penny is re-introduced as a 9-year old girl in season 5, as portrayed by Kendall Applegate. She evolved from a "forgettable prop character" to a more noticeable one, albeit only slightly, as Penny was still finding her place in the series and her mother's storylines. Penny's first appearance was in "Kids Ain't Like Everybody Else", in which she was shown to be playing with her doll and when she rushed into the garage to put down her doll car, she almost made her dad's bass fall to the floor. This gave Lynette an idea: she planted the bass, along with Penny's doll, on the floor in the garage, and so when Tom came home in his car he ran over both items, and then put the blame on Penny, which Lynette allowed him to (better Penny than her). is gonna die.]]In "Mirror, Mirror", Lynette finds Penny sitting in Tom's sports car, and when she comes up to her the young girl asks her mother whether her dad will be dying soon enough, because she overheard her brothers Porter and Preston fighting over who would keep the car when Tom died. Lynette reassures her that Tom isn't dying, and that her brothers were just being silly, like they always are, which is why they won't be missed when they move out. Penny attends her mother's first breakfast with the whole family in years, but just as Parker's about to discuss his science fair project, his brother Porter is arrested for supposedly burning down The White Horse Club. When Preston poses as Porter, after the latter's skipped town out of fear, Penny blows Tom and Lynette's cover when she demands that Preston give her back her CD player in front of Porter's lawyer, Bob Hunter, who was there to meet with his client and discuss their case. In the 100th episode, Penny shows up at Gabrielle's house, where the 'wives are meeting to discuss the arrangements for the funeral of Eli Scruggs, and asks her mother to help her with her math homework, as she had promised to. Lynette tells Penny to go home and she'll be right there in a while, but then she flashes back to when she found out she was pregnant with Penny. Tom was excited, but his wife, not so much: Lynette was tired of taking care of little rascals all by herself, and she knows all too well that her new child will be a boy too, because it's always a boy. She reveals to her husband that she was planning to go back to work later that year, and this new pregnancy messes everything up. Lynette goes ahead with the idea of getting a new job, and she finally lands it over a phone call after her waters have broken. Tom then rushes her to the hospital. realizes what is more important in her life.]]A few months later, Lynette comes home with baby Penny and her groceries, but she gets distracted while talking on the phone over some business and thus she leaves her baby in the car. Eli notices Penny's cry and brings her into the house, wherein he surprises Lynette. She is thrown back and gets emotional over leaving her child inside the car, out in the sun. She claims she has never done this before, but Eli is sympathetic, saying he gets it, she has a lot on her mind with her new babyy and new job, and all in all nothing bad happened. Lynette thanks him, and after he leaves, she turns off her cell phone, interrupting the call to focus on her child. Back in the present, Lynette tells Gabrielle she will be going home to help her daughter with her homework. She calls out Penny, telling her to wait up, and the two head home together. After Tom is forced to let go of his entire staff at the pizza place because he can't afford to keep them anymore, he hires his children to work for him, free of salaries, after school and on the weekends, to which they object. However, a reluctant Lynette encourages the children to go along and help their father. Tom tells Penny she is now aged 15, rather than 9, so that her working for him doesn't pass as illegal. Penny is put to work at the salad bar, but is demoted when Lynette learns she has lost her band aid. Parker takes over for her. 'Season 6' Penny attends the wedding of Mike and Susan Delfino in the season premiere, along with her family. In "Never Judge a Lady by Her Lover", she is told by her parents that they are expecting a new set of twins. Just like her pre-existing siblings, Penny doesn't take the news well: she tells her parents that if the twins are boys, she is outta there! When Carlos finds out that Lynette had been concealing her pregnancy from him in order to hold on to a promotion, he challenges her to work on a difficult task overnight, thus forcing her to miss Penny's Christmas pageant at school, which she attends every year. Penny is saddened by this, and after the family's headed out of the house, Lynette feels remorseful and tells them to wait up. She is fired the following day, after she fails to complete her task, and Carlos tells her that if she hadn't gone to Penny's pageant she might be able to pull it off. After she lost her job, Lynette and her daughter cut coupons because they need to save up money now. Penny's excited by this. In "The Chase", Lynette and Tom have a disagreement regarding what name to give their forthcoming child, and Penny comes down for her special birthday breakfast, and when she does not get her usual pancakes, she reminds her parents of it. Lynette and Tom are mortified to find out they've forgotten their daughter's birthday, and Lynette tries to cover it up, to no avail. Penny is annoyed by this. Later, at dinner, the Scavos try to make it up to little Penny, but Lynette made the mistake of having "Happy birthday, Polly" written on the cake (Polly being the name Lynette wanted to give her unborn baby). Penny leaves them, incredibly angry and frustrated. The next day, Lynette waits for her daughter to come out of the schoolbus, but she doesn't. A little girl gives her a note from Penny, who has run away. and Penny make amends at the hotel.]]Lynette and Tom go to the police, and there they learn Penny has checked into a hotel with their credit card. At the hotel, Lynette talks to Penny, apologizing, and Penny states she hates the baby. Lynette realizes she is jealous because she won't be the baby anymore, and explains to her how good it will be when the women outnumber the men in the house. Afterwards, mother and daughter decide to spend the night together in the room they've paid for. In the following episode, Lynette replaces Preston's grandmother's ring with a fake, hoping that his fiancée Irina will notice it is a knock-off and leave Preston. However, Irina comes out on top by pretending to be classy and saying she couldn't possibly accept a family heirloom: it should be saved for Penny. 'Season 7' prepares to welcome Renee Perry.]] In season 7, Darcy Rose Byrnes takes over the role, and the character of Penny becomes more notable and visible. In the season premiere, Lynette has Penny and the rest of her family pose to welcome Renee Perry, a former college roommate and best friend, to their home. Penny is excited, along with her siblings, because Renee married a Yankee player, and is therefore filthy rich. In the following episode, Penny is doing her homework in the kitchen and Renee is talking to her husband, from whom she's now separated, saying that she is entitled to half of eveything his money bought, including his lover's cheap implants. Lynette is horrified to hear her talking like that around her daughter, but Renee says Penny's going to start dating soon enough, and it's better if she knows right away what men are all about. She then asks her what auntie Renee has taught her about marriage, and Penny says "Never sign a pre-nup". In "The Thing That Counts is What's Inside", Lynette comes home from the store with Penny and baby Paige, holding groceries. The baby has been crying all the while, and Lynette has grown tired. She stops crying, and the phone rings. Lynette is told that she left her license at the store, so she must return and get it, which will lead the baby to another crying rampage. Penny offers to take care of her baby sister, and even though Lynette isn't so sure, she agrees. She then comes home to find the child lying quietly on the floor, with Penny looking after her. She had changed the baby's diaper, which ceased her crying. Lynette is astonished because she didn't even know her young daughter knew how to change diapers or that she was so good with Paige. Lynette asks Penny that she let her take a shower to wash off the vomit from her hair (from the day before), and Penny insists that her mother take a nice bath instead, much to Lynette's satisfaction. Before the girls' poker game, Lynette tells Penny she'll be stopping by for a while, but she won't be staying, because since Paige spit up on Gaby's couch she's become unwelcome. Penny offers to take care of her sibling yet again, so that Lynette can stay for the poker game. Penny says she realizes how much her mother likes those get-togethers. One morning, Lynette tells Penny to watch her little sister while she goes out jogging, which she hasn't done in a while, and the former tells her she's got a big math test that morning so she can't be late. Outside, Bree is surprised to see her friend out running again, and Lynette is over the moon with the fact that she now realized the older children in her family can help look after the younger ones, which can only happen when one has spawned as many as she has. Bree calls her up to her house to discuss something Renee has done, and Lynette eventually forgets all about getting her daughter to school. She rushes home to find a note from Penny saying she's left, and no sign of her baby. Penny has taken little Paige to school with her. Lynette comes to school and is overwhelmed with guilt and embarassment when she learns the principal is waiting for her, and every woman she walks by (and also a young bully) is judging her. The principal tells Lynette that Penny has been helping her out more than she knows, even going so far as bringing the baby monitor to her room at night so that she can attend to the baby and her mother can get some better sleep. Lynette is surprised to hear this, and says she will have a talk with Penny. She still manages to tell the principal she shouldn't be so judgmental, because no one can say that they're a perfect mother, but the principal, who has eight children and a coffee mug reading "World's Best Mother", proves her otherwise. Back at home, after Penny's arrived, she apologizes to her mother, saying she'll never bring Paige to school again. She tries to head upstairs, but Lynette stops her. Penny tells her the only reason she was so motherly towards her sister is that her mother is much more pleasant and happy when she is well rested and not overwhelmed by having to take care of an infant. Lynette tells Penny that her job is to simply behave like a child, and that her mother's job consists of making sure that's exactly what Penny does. When Penny's paternal grandmother, Allison, comes to visit the family and help take care of Paige, she wants Penny to help her serve the boys during dinner one night, much to Lynette's displeasure, as she doesn't share the thought that women should wait on men. When Lynette gets snappy with Allison, stating that all her waiting hand and foot on her husband didn't keep him from continually cheating on and ultimately leaving her, Penny and her siblings are dissatisfied with their mother's bluntness. When the children on Wisteria Lane start trick-or-treating, Allison warns that they are about to run out of candy. Tom explains that he has lots left in the cupboard. However, later, Allison repeats that they are running out of candy and decides to go to the store. Penny insists that there is more somewhere but Allison promises her that she will take care of it and leaves as Penny looks on, worried. Later, Tom is watching horror movies with his sons Parker and Porter when the doorbell rings. Tom shouts to Allison but Penny explains that she went out to get more candy. During Thanksgiving, the Scavos and Delfinos head over to Renee's house for the meal, and Penny, her brother Parker and MJ are relegated to the kids' table, which was set on the driveway. In "Where Do I Belong?", Penny and her brothers exchange some back-and-forth as they tease the girl, saying they won't come to her soccer game. This leads to Tom and Lynette silently making amends following the revelation of his involvement with Renee twenty years before. When Stella Wingfield marries Frank Kaminsky, a curmodgeonly old millionaire, Penny and her family all attend the wedding, and also the taking of a family portrait that Frank wants to rub in the faces of his previous families. However, he dies from natural causes before the first picture is even taken, and his body sits in the sofa the whole night through, something which leads Penny (and Tom) to worry about whether his ghost will haunt their house. In "Then I Really Got Scared", Tom announces that he has booked a luxury family holiday to Hawaii. Lynette is disappointed because she has spent ages planning a two-week road trip and complains that Tom didn't talk to her first. That night, in bed, Lynette continues to moan about Tom booking the holiday. He points out that the kids were really excited and Lynette says it is only because they've never had a lavish vacation. The pair agree that they will each pitch holidays based on the same budget and the kids can decide. The next day, Lynette starts her pitch with the Grand Canyon and a national forest in mind, but the children seem bored. However, they perk up when they see her show off photographs of a huge rollercoaster and a luxury vehicle called the Road Juggernaut which was used by Justin Bieber, info that thrills Penny. Tom is next up and shows them a helicopter tour of a volcano and swimming with dolphins. However, Lynette puts them off with images of a shark and a helicopter crash. The kids head upstairs to decide. Then, the couple has a big fight, in which Lynette calls her husband a "pompous ass" and he replies by calling her a "raging bitch". What they don't know is that Penny was there witnessing it all, and they only notice her when she starts crying. Lynette goes to comfort her and, later, tells Tom that their daughter thinks they are about to divorce, and she doesn't want to face the choice of who she's going to live with. playfully powders Penny's nose.]] In the season finale, Lynette is applying make-up in her bathroom and sprinkles some powder on Penny's nose as a joke. She tells her mom she looks really pretty, and Lynette thanks her and asks her whether his father is dressed yet, to which she responds that he's not back yet. She asks her from where, and she says she doesn't know, he left while Lynette was in the shower. Lynette puts away her make-up and walks into her bedroom, noticing Tom's suitcase isn't where he had left it anymore, thus giving her the impression that he had finally left her. She asks her daughter if she's seen it, and Penny says she hasn't. Lynette gets sad. Penny asks her if she can try on her lipgloss, to which her mom says "Sure" as she continues to look to the wall in front of her, with nothing leaning against it. Lynette then arrives at Renee's house for the first part of the progressive dinner party, and Susan tells her she should have a talk with Penny, who was over watching MJ that day and seemed to be a little upset. Lynette asks her about what, and Susan says that she's not sure if she'd seen her parents arguing, but she had it in her mind that they were splitting up, and Susan reassured her that nothing would ever happen to break her parents up. However, she then notices her friend's reaction, and realizes what is going on. Lynette tells Susan that Tom left her, and her friend is shocked. 'Season 8' In the eighth season premiere, it is revealed that Tom has been sleeping in Bree Van de Kamp's office, trying to keep from his kids the fact that he and his wife have separated. However, by the end of the episode, the Scavo couple decides to come clean to Penny and Parker. Afterwards, Tom moves out, and Lynette is left at their house with the kids, including Penny, who seems to adjust well to the new lifestyle brought on by her parents' separation. Penny often goes on visitations with her father. In "School of Hard Knocks", she is given a tablet by her mother, who'd recently started to suspect that her husband was seeing someone else. The purpose of this gift was to get Penny to give her mother a virtual tour of Tom's new bachelor pad, which allowed Lynette to get a glimpse of him talking to a beautiful young woman. Lynette is devastated, and won't even stay logged on long enough to help her daughter with her math homework. During Halloween, Lynette learns that Jane, Tom's new girlfriend, has agreed to help Penny with her trick-or-treating costume, coming up with the very ellaborate design of a swan costume. However, Lynette tells Jane that making Penny's costume is sort of a mother-daughter tradition, and she's already started working on it. Jane understands, but Lynette is left in a hassle, as she hasn't really done anything for her child. Thanks to her friend Renee, she is given the access to a Tony award-winning costume designer (with a cocaine addiction) who agrees to prepare the costume of a cat. However, when Penny shows up wearing the outfit, she looks like a stripper. Tom, Jane and even Lynette are all very shocked at the sight, and Lynette coyly tries to pass it off as acceptable. Jane realizes what is going on, and tells Penny that there must've been a skirt that was part of the ensemble which she must've missed. She offers to go help the kid and her mother go look for the skirt, and Lynette accepts. In a very short amount of time, Jane sews a new skirt for Penny, prompting Lynette to thank her for her help, but also to ask her to "back off" from her husband... which Jane refuses to do. and Penny are "twins".]] In the following episode, Penny asks her mother if Tom is marrying his girlfriend Jane. Lynette is taken by surprise. She asks her daughter why she would say that, and Penny explains that her father and his new girlfriend have been spending a lot of time together, and they seem really happy. Lynette explains that just because two people are together and happy doesn't mean they're getting married. Tom and Jane show up almost immediately afterwards, to pick up Penny. Tom asks the young girl if she's all ready to go see Wicked, and Jane points out that they're "twins" because they both have braided hair. Lynette notices it for the first time and asks Penny how she learnt to that, learning that it was Jane who taught her. Tom tells Lynette they'll be back around eleven. She is surprised they'll be back so late, considering it's a school night, and Jane tells her it's her fault, as she went to school with the "wicked witch", who invited them backstage. Penny really wants go, so Lynette has no choice but to allow that. As they leave, Jane calls Penny "zuzu", a charming nickname. Once they're gone, Lynette turns to Renee, who had been in the background all along, and says "zuzu?", expressing disbelief. Renee tells her yes, apparently Jane's got a cute nickname for Penny, and she's probably got one for Lynette too: "doormat". This throws Lynette off, and Renee explains her rationalization: she's letting Jane take away both her husband AND her daughter. It's time for her to fight dirty. and Penny look at the latter's baby photos.]]The following day, Penny comes downstairs into the entrance of the house, and announces to her mother, who's looking at a photo album in the living room, that her father and Jane are coming. Lynette fakes a sigh to try and get her attention, but fails to, so she must do it again. Penny finally catches on it and asks what her mother is doing. Lynette explains that she's looking at her baby photos, which are so good. In one of them, of Penny's first birthday, both of them appear as well as Tom, and Lynette points out that they were really a family then. This leads Penny to reply that they're a family now still, but Lynette explains that things are going to be different since her dad brought Jane into the picture. Penny picks up on the fact that her mother doesn't like Jane, but Lynette responds that she never said that, she thinks Jane is nice and seems a like a person who can always get what she wants, including other people's husbands. Lynette is trying a coy way of indirectly leading her daughter to believe that Jane isn't a nice person. Penny says that she seems really nice, to which Lynette replies that she is, to her anyway, probably because she's trying to steal Penny from her too. When Lynette tells her she doesn't have to wait inside for her father to come, Penny reveals that she no longer wants to go with them, she'd rather stay at home with her own mother. Lynette tells her that if she feels strongly about that (and adds that she can tell she does), she can call her father for her and announce to him that Penny's not feeling so well. Lynette says she'd do anything for Penny (going so far as referring to her as her "biological daughter", just to push even more buttons), and Penny thanks her mother, not realizing she's being manipulated. Lynette even calls her "boo-boo", as a sort of charming nickname, which throws Penny off, leading her mother to tell her they'll work on that. wants to know why his daughter won't come to visitations.]] Tom shows up at Lynette's house looking for Penny, and Lynette asks him if he didn't get her message. Tom replies that he did, and that he's been getting a lot of messages about Penny not wanting to come with him lately, so he just calls out to her. Lynette asks him why he's there, and Tom answers that he wants to see his daughter and find out what is going on. Penny comes downstairs, and her father asks her why she hasn't come with him lately. Penny explains that she's had a lot of homework and stuff to do over the course of the last week, and Tom asks her why she doesn't just do it over at his place, and then tells her that if it's about science she can just get Jane, who's a brainiac and lives right upstairs from him, for help. Penny tells him she'd rather have her mom help her out. Tom picks up on a weird vibe and asks his daughter if she has a problem with Jane. Penny tries to weasel out of the situation, but Tom won't let her go, and he suggests that they spend some time together, just the two of them, at the same park where he taught her to play catch. Penny says "okay", but rather coldly, and leaves. Tom is thrown off. He says it's weird that Jane and Penny were getting along great and all of a sudden... he promptly asks Lynette if she told Penny anything about Jane. Lynette responds that Penny is a big girl who can form her own opinions. Tom wants to make sure his wife remembers that this thing between them is between them indeed, and shouldn't involve the kids. Lynette tells him he has no right to blame her, considering he's the one who jumped into a new relationship without thinking about the consequences. He's made his bed... with someone else. She then excuses herself by telling him she's going to help their daughter with her homework. Tom looks sad. The following day, Lynette learns that her daughter didn't show up to meet her father at the park like she'd promised him, so she feels sad and goes to get her. Penny immediately makes it clear that she doesn't want to go and meet him, and asks if they can get out of there. Lynette tells her they can't, as she needs to spend some time with her dad. Penny says she doesn't want to, and Lynette responds that she's not giving her a choice. She tells her to look at him, and explains that he is sitting over there because he misses his little girl so much. Penny replies that if that's the case, than he shouldn't have left them for Jane. Lynette says that's not what happened, he didn't leave them, he left his wife. And he didn't do it for Jane, he did because they just don't make each other happy. And then he met Jane, who apparently does make him happy. Penny starts to remind her of what she said about Jane, but Lynette takes it all back, acknowledging that she said a lot of things she shouldn't have said, and apologizes for that. Penny looks at her father yet again and Lynette tells her he loves her. They both do. There's no bad guys there, only people trying to figure things out. And one of those people is right over there, and she knows he'd love to play catch with his daughter. Penny unbuckles her seat belt and hugs her mother. She gets out of the car and turns back to her, saying "You're way prettier than her." She then walks up to Tom and they start playing catch. Inside the car, Lynette watches them, smiling, but then her expression shifts to one of pure sadness. She breaks down and cries. Trivia *At the end of "Ah, But Underneath", Mike's map showed Penny's name to be "Daisy". In the original script for the pilot, her name was "Patsy". *In season 1, Penny was portrayed by twin baby brothers Dylan and Jordan Cline, and in seasons 2-4 by twin baby sisters Darien and Kerstin Pinkerton. It is a movie and TV show-making habit/tradition to feature twins acting as a single role. After the time jump that occured at the end of season four, new series regular Kendall Applegate was hired to play the part for seasons 5 and 6. However, by season 7, Applegate had left the cast for reasons unknown, and Darcy Rose Byrnes took over for the role. Considering that Penny also appeared in several flashbacks throughout the series played by uncredited and unidentified baby actors, this makes her the character that has been portrayed by the biggest number of actors in the series. de:Penny Scavo Category:Supporting characters Category:Season 1 characters Category:Time-Jump characters Category:Season 2 characters Category:Season 3 characters Category:Season 4 characters Category:Season 5 characters Category:Season 6 characters Category:Season 7 characters Category:Females Category:Daughter of a main character Category:Lynette's family Category:Wisteria Lane residents Category:Desperate Housewives: The Game characters Category:Season 8 characters Category:Characters in all 8 seasons Category:Teenagers